Amathole district municipality has set aside R25-million to build three reservoirs in the Fort Beaufort area this financial year (2017-18) to help deal with ongoing water shortages in the area.
Water shortages in the entire ADM area have been a regular phenomenon since 2015, with local towns such as Butterworth, Dutywa, the university town of Alice, and Fort Beaufort and surrounding villages being hit due to drought.
This forced ADM to regulate water supply in an attempt to ensure there is enough water for cooking and drinking purposes.
The dry spell continued in the Fort Beaufort area and in May reached a crisis point, forcing ADM to caution residents to use water sparingly and expect daily water cuts.
The water rationing also affected areas around Butterworth, Adelaide and Bedford, as Gcuwa dam was no longer overflowing.
The regulation saw water supply turned off at 9pm daily and turned on again at 5am the following day.
ADM placed an advert in yesterday’s Daily Dispatch asking for bidders interested in building the reservoirs of between 2.2 megalitres to 3ML, “and fencing around three pump stations in the Fort Beaufort area”.
ADM spokeswoman Noni Vuso said the municipality “is planning to improve the supply of potable water to the community of Fort Beaufort with the construction of three new reservoirs, each at separate sites, to provide additional storage capacity”.
For the full story get a copy of the Dispatch or subscribe to our e-Edition for the complete newspaper with jobs, classifieds, crosswords, TV schedules and back editions.
Tenders out to build dams in ADM
Water shortages in the entire ADM area have been a regular phenomenon since 2015, with local towns such as Butterworth, Dutywa, the university town of Alice, and Fort Beaufort and surrounding villages being hit due to drought.
This forced ADM to regulate water supply in an attempt to ensure there is enough water for cooking and drinking purposes.
The dry spell continued in the Fort Beaufort area and in May reached a crisis point, forcing ADM to caution residents to use water sparingly and expect daily water cuts.
The water rationing also affected areas around Butterworth, Adelaide and Bedford, as Gcuwa dam was no longer overflowing.
The regulation saw water supply turned off at 9pm daily and turned on again at 5am the following day.
ADM placed an advert in yesterday’s Daily Dispatch asking for bidders interested in building the reservoirs of between 2.2 megalitres to 3ML, “and fencing around three pump stations in the Fort Beaufort area”.
ADM spokeswoman Noni Vuso said the municipality “is planning to improve the supply of potable water to the community of Fort Beaufort with the construction of three new reservoirs, each at separate sites, to provide additional storage capacity”.
For the full story get a copy of the Dispatch or subscribe to our e-Edition for the complete newspaper with jobs, classifieds, crosswords, TV schedules and back editions.
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